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Javier Kaplan

Javier “Monty” Kaplan was born in 1986 and is a photographer from Argentina, currently based between Miami and N.Y.
He has had an affinity with photography for as long as he can remember, but it wasn’t until recently that he started to take it seriously. In his teen years, he became more focused on filmmaking and that became his life for a long time. After years of directing and editing music videos and commercials, he started production on his first feature film in 2014. Because it was a very low budget, it ended up being an excruciating and exhausting experience. He was mentally and creatively drained so, after that, he needed something that he could just go and do on his own, by himself, for myself. Photography became the answer to his frustration because it is so simple and immediate. There’s an autonomy to it, which is something he appreciates and that goes very well with his personality. That’s when photography stopped being a hobby and became a profession.

“My photography is all about capturing a certain mood. Usually a pretty depressing and dark one, but being as I’m bipolar, and as a result, a pretty eclectic person, so too is my work. I often find myself taking the most upbeat, colorful pictures, followed by some very dour ones. My style is all over the board honestly, and i like it that way. I get bored pretty fast, so i try to keep it fresh. But of course, be it day or night, light (and lack thereof) is always my main concern. Flash light, street low light, or natural light, are always the tools i use to communicate a feeling. I search for the things everyone else is not paying attention to and try to capture it in a very minimalistic manner.”